I hated the college bookstore. It was like a bastardized version of what a bookstore should be. Items with the college logo and mascot were stuffed everywhere the bookshelves weren't, clothing, mugs, lanyards, cellphones cases, and every other conceivable item hung from the walls or sat on tables that always seemed to be in the way. Instead of helpful staff the place was always manned by bored undergrads and instead of thousands of interesting books, they were stocked with dry textbooks marked up thousands of times so the college could rip-off their only customers. It was like a boring over air-conditioned hell. Where the demons were all too busy looking at their cellphones to even bother tormenting the damned.

I moved through the aisles hunting down the over-priced tomes I was supposed to learn this semester's coursework from. It said a lot about the American education system that the Ipad in the counter display cost less money than my advanced systems architecture book. I chuckled at the bitter thought. I was getting cynical in my old age apparently.

When I’d come in here my freshmen year I remembered spending all my time oogleing the college girls rather than thinking about politics. Here I was two years later and the freshman girls lacked the appeal they used too have. Not that there was much difference between us physically but there seemed to be some invisible mental line that needed to be crossed in college for someone to go from child to adult. Once all the partying and freedom worked it’s way out of your system and made you realize that you were actually going to have to graduate at some point and make something of your life.

That thought thought brought on a audible snort. I’d paid for my books and most of this semester’s tuition playing video games. I was pretty certain I couldn’t count that as adult behavior.

And that red-head…….

My eyes snagged on one of the stores few customers. The girl was obviously just out of high-school and was wearing a shirt at least a size too small for her. I admired her for only a moment before I jerked my eyes away from her pleasantly rounded flesh. Apparently, I wasn’t quite done admiring the wildlife. I moved to the checkout counter where I met one of the aforementioned bored undergrads.

She too was a pretty, but more petite and cute than the voluptuous red-head. She had her head buried in her cell and I had to kick the counter hard enough to rattle it before she finally looked up. It was weeks still until the semester started and this time of year the bookstore saw little traffic. I had been running an errand and had decided to swing by and get my books while I was in the area. In a few weeks this place would be packed and I really didn’t want to stand in line in order to waste large amounts of money.

The girl scowled as she looked up at me, apparently angry she actually had to do her job. I laid my books on the counter and waited as she scanned each one. I winched every time the register beeped and watched in growing agony as the price listed on the display rocketed upward. The number finally stopped and my wallet cried in agony.

“That’ll be seven hundred and twenty-five dollars.” The cashier said absently as she picked her phone back up. I briefly considered just bolting for the door but grudgingly handed over my debit card for the girl to swipe while I waited to enter my pin. Thankfully my bank account was still in good shape from my recent Otherworld based infusions, at least until tuition came due, but I was planning on taking a loan anyway. Student loan debt was practically a prerequisite for adulthood.

I headed out the door feeling much worse than I had when I’d gone in. I was heading back to my car and looking forward to logging back into Otherworld when someone spoke up from behind me.

“Hey, you got a light?” A feminine voice asked.

I turned and saw another attractive girl with a cigarette hanging out from her dark-red lips. She was dressed in goth garb, all black shredded cloth showing her pale skin beneath. Her fingernails were painted black, clashing with her peroxide-white hair.

I didn’t have a light. I’d tried smoking once in high school but hadn’t liked it much. Combine that with my lack of funds and the fact they slowly killed you and I’d never much seen the point. That was money I could spend on video games and DVD box sets.

“Maybe…” I replied truthfully.

I’d only really done magic in the real world once and that was by accident. Still, this seemed as good a time as any. A simple low-power task that would only embarrass me if I failed. I focused my mind, bringing up a picture of flame and concentrating. I had no idea what the girl thought as I stood there like an idiot but I figured that in the real world I needed to be much more focused than I did in Otherworld if I wanted anything to work.

My mind churned and I tried to add color and life to the flame I was picturing. I made my mental image as clear and life-like as possible until the flame danced merrily in my mind and I could almost feel the heat of it. Once I was satisfied, I reached within myself and tried to pull out the energy I thought of as mana. It felt as It had in the BestPrice, cloudy and diluted somehow, but less so than before. My extra mental focus seemed to be working. I bent more mental energy to the task and tried to condense the energy enough for what I needed.

I opened my eyes again and the girl was looking at me with the slightly confused and disappointed look woman usually got when I did something stupid in front of them.

“Do you have a light or not?” She asked with more bite in her tone.

I opened both my hands showing her I held nothing then pretended to push up my sleeves as if I was showing her I wasn’t hiding anything up them. I was wearing a tee-shirt so it was a pointless gesture but it did earn me an exasperated eye-roll. Then I reached forward and snapped my fingers directly under her cigarette. At the same time I pushed my mana out into the world and ignited it with a thought.

My vision swam slightly as the wave of exhaustion washed over me but a small wavering flame appeared above my thumb. The girl’s eyes widened as her cigarette caught and I threw her wink as I walked away.

I managed to make it back to my toyota before I keeled over from exhaustion.

*********************************************************************************************

Sweat trickled down Jasmine’s face as she and Meredith climbed over yet another boulder in the mountains West of Hernberg. They’d been traveling through the narrow mountain pass for a week. Stopping only to rest of fight over the roving bands of orcs common in the mountains.

She was just about to stop for lunch as the pass they’d been trudging through finally opened up and Jasmine smiled as her eyes fell upon the green valley below. A large forest filled most of the basin with a small village surrounded by a crosshatch of fields. Overall, it was a quaint scene and Jasmine looked forward to a meal and some rest when they finally made it down to the village. It was still afternoon but the sun was already starting to drop below the mountains on the opposite side of the valley.

She waited on the rock for a moment until there was a grunt from behind her and Meredith pulled herself up next to Jasmine. The girl was managing better than she had on their first mountain climbing excursion. She’d raised a few skill levels to help herself over the week long march, but as a healer she still lacked the physical attributes for hiking.

The girls took a moment to catch their breath and they both stood there in silence for a long moment admiring the view.

“I think this will do nicely.” Meredith said as she looked down upon the valley.

“Do nicely for what? You’ve been acting all mysterious since we left the city. “ Jasmine asked as she continued to look at the beautiful valley.

“Starting our guild of course. There’s plenty of lumber down in the valley. A town near-by for shops to sell loot. The mountains are full of caves and monsters, all of which are completely unexplored. The place is perfect.” Meredith said with a self-satisfied nod.

Jasmine just stared at the girl, her mind spinning with all the things that could go wrong.

**************************************************************

“What’s our status on the new NPC behavior creation?” The CEO of Nexus Corp asked Nelson from his seat at the head of the meeting table. The meeting had been going for nearly an hour and Nelson just wanted to flee the room and get back to the lab where he usually spent his time. Trying to deal with all the suits up in the main office was never pleasant.

“Our reports say 30% complete. Our newest batch of testers is up and running but there are some…. complications . Our analysts say we require more diversity from our testers.” Nelson said, knowing that explanation wasn’t enough, but it wasn’t like he could go into detail about their newest “testers” in front of everyone.

He could picture it now.

‘Well sir, turns out prostitutes, drug addicts, and homeless people don’t make great testers. Filling the game with a bunch of jaded, angry, and occasionally psychotic people doesn’t provide enough contrasting ideals. Sure, the few kids we’ve been able abduct off the streets are better, but they're more likely to be missed than the adults.”

That would go over well. He’d been in jail by lunch. Then again, his mother was coming over for dinner tonight, so there were some upsides to his possible incarceration. He did feel bad about the kidnappings, mostly. They were really just borrowing the people. They put them back when they were done and for most of them getting food and medical care would be a blessing….. still.

The CEO frowned, obviously not pleased but didn’t ask for details. That would have to wait until later.

“Have you had any luck finding the user from the videos?” The CEO ask instead, moving the conversation away from the more touchy topics.

“Yes, It seems he was adventuring in-game with one of our employee’s from analytics. She said she’d met him once in Bloomington. Likely a college student. Will have to ask around campus a bit but I don’t think it will be difficult to locate him now.” Nelson replied.

“Excellent, put someone on it. We need to talk to him about his future videos.”

AN: It's been a while I know. I'm working on volume 3 and things are progressing, if slowly. I wanted to finish more of the book before starting to post but wanted to get something up so you didn't think I'd abandoned the story.

As always thanks to my readers and a special thanks to those who've written reviews.